Berlin Killer Wanted To Launch Gun Attack in December 2015, Government Failed to Deport

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has published a timeline of authorities’ handling of the Tunisian man who drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and wounding scores.

The chronology, published Monday , details Anis Amri’s whereabouts in Germany, his risk evaluation and his criminal behavior. It shows he said as early as December 2015 that he wanted to buy firearms “to commit attacks in Germany” — a full year before the Dec. 19 attack.

advertisement

Last February, state authorities declared him a potential threat. He was under surveillance by several German agencies, but they repeatedly concluded he did not pose a concrete or immediate danger.

Amri, who came to Germany in mid-2015, had been rejected for asylum but authorities had been unable to deport him due to paperwork problems.

BERLIN, GERMANY – DECEMBER 20: shattered glass is seen on the windshield of a truck the morning after it ploughed through a Christmas market on December 20, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Several people have died while dozens have been injured as police investigate the attack at a market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on the Kurfuerstendamm and whether it is linked to a terrorist plot.